given name
Pluralgiven names
- 1The name given to a person as a child, usually by the parents, as distinct from a family name.
The clerk asked for the baby's given name before printing the birth certificate.
Many immigrants kept their given names but changed the spelling to suit English.
Similarforename
Oppositesurname
Note
The phrase makes no assumption about name order, which is where it parts company with first name. In Japan the family name comes first and the given name follows, though some people reverse the order when introducing themselves to Westerners; Chinese names work the same way, which is why some Chinese Americans end up writing theirs backwards. On forms it pairs naturally with family name or surname.
- 2A name given to someone by themselves or by others, rather than the one chosen by their parents.
On the roster he's Daniel, but Tank is his given name, given by the guys in the locker room.
Professor: Lady Bird, is that your given name? Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson: Yeah. Professor: Why is it in quotes? Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson: I gave it to myself, it’s given to me by me.
2017, Greta Gerwig (scriptwriter), Lady BirdSimilarnickname
Note
The joke takes given literally: if parents can give a name, so can you, a friend or a team. In Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird (2017), Christine McPherson defends her name as one given to her by herself. The pun only lands when the speaker says who did the giving; otherwise a listener simply hears the name from one's parents.
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